Anne's ex walks out on his wife

Last updated at 11:36 13 April 2005

They were within touching distance of their 30th wedding anniversary and at an age when friends thought they'd be together for ever.

But there will be no celebrations for multi-millionaire commodity broker Christopher Sharples - a former boyfriend of Princess Anne - and his wife Sharon, niece of the colourful Margaret, Duchess of Argyll.

For I can reveal the Old Etonian yachting fanatic, whose father was the assassinated Governor of Bermuda, has another woman in his life.

Last night Sharples, 58, and his 54-year old wife were reluctant to talk about their split. 'It's true,' says Mrs Sharples sadly, 'but I have telephoned my husband and we have decided that neither of us wants to talk about it.'

However, Christopher's spirited mother, Baroness Sharples, whose husband Sir Richard Sharples was gunned down by thugs while strolling in his dinner jacket in the grounds of Government House in Bermuda in 1972, defends her son's new companion.

'She is not a bimbo,' she tells me. 'Nor would I describe her as a younger woman.'

I understand Christopher went to see his 82-year-old mother - who has been widowed three times - on Sunday to break the news of the domestic arrangements in his life. 'They are not living together or anything,' says Baroness Sharples, a wartime member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.

'It's always sad when people split up, and I don't like to see people sad. They are separated but they are not divorced. Nothing is beyond repair, but it looks unlikely. But I have three other children whose marriages are all right. At least, I think they are all right.'

Five years ago, Sharples was 262nd in the Mail on Sunday's Rich Report with a fortune said to be around £105 million. A noted golfer and yachtsman, he was sailing to Bermuda with his brother David when he heard about his father's murder.

His marriage to Sharon at the fashionable Church of the Immaculate Conception in London's Farm Street was the social event of the 1975 season.

PS

Why has actress Sally Farmiloe been refused a table at London's most celebrated West End haunt, Le Caprice?

'I couldn't understand it,' says Sally, 57. 'The table wasn't even for me, it was for a charity prize - for dinner with Neil and Christine Hamilton - which is going to be auctioned at a Bob Champion cancer fundraising gala later this month.'

Surely it cannot have slipped Sally's mind that she once had a very celebrated dinner at Le Caprice with ex-lover Jeffrey Archer? Indeed, ever since this rendezvous, whispers have circulated that the couple had sex in the lift of the exclusive restaurant.

'Le Caprice doesn't even have a lift, it was in the ladies' loo,' admits Sally. 'But I'm a reformed character now,' she trills.

When I telephone Le Caprice to ask if Sally's lascivious liaison in their lavatory is the reason the booking was refused, I am assured by a director: 'Oh no, not at all. We donate tables only to three charities - Amnesty International, Crusaid and one for leukaemia research.'

The sister of TV actress Leslie Ash risks losing her home today to Millfield School in a dispute over £9,000 in unpaid fees. Debbie, 48, was forced to withdraw her daughter Holly from the school six years ago after her lifestyle suddenly changed. She parted from the girl's father and was unable to continue her job as a fitness coach at the House of Commons gym and the Chelsea Harbour Club. Since then, interest and legal charges on the original £7,000 debt have piled up and Millfield will ask a county court judge to put her Hastings flat up for sale to clear the debt.